If you're aggressive & high-beta investor, invest in this metal: Jefferies' Chris Wood

Chris Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies, sees India's equity market in a phase of "healthy consolidation" but notes that risk-seeking investors may find their best bet in a particular metal he refers to as "high-beta gold."

"India has gone through its worst underperformance relative to other emerging markets for many years. But this is not because India has collapsed. It's simply because other emerging markets have rallied from very low valuations," Wood told Business Today on Wednesday. He pointed out that while China was trading at 7–8x earnings in the third quarter of last year, India today is at about 22x earnings.

He added that the more other emerging markets rally, the greater the incentive to book profits, but overall, 2025 remains a positive year for emerging markets. "This is good for India too because it means all are likely to receive more inflows," he said.

On commodities, Wood stated, "Silver is high-beta gold. So if you're aggressive and high-beta investor, silver is an interesting speculation. If I'm a very aggressive investor, I may choose to put 100 per cent in silver."

Speaking on India's long-term positioning, he reiterated, "I've always basically played India first and foremost as a domestic demand story. At the end of the day, the economy is domestic demand driven, which is why these (US) tariffs are not as big of a deal as they could have been."

Commenting on sectors, he highlighted potential risks for IT services from artificial intelligence (AI) and underlined that his India portfolio has always had a core allocation to banks. "This year it has made sense to tilt more to the various financing companies, which are geared to lower rates in any pickup in consumption," Wood said.

He concluded that the Indian market is no longer just about IT services and banks, which dominated for about 20 years, observing that the era has now ended.